Rockslide's Wacky Wrestling
by Majin Gojira
Summary: Sick and tired of seeing the young heroes of Marvel die pointlessly and permanently? Rockslide has the solution-all of marvel's young heroes: Young X-Men, Runaways, Avengers Academy, Initiative, Young Allies and many others come together to hang out, have fun safe from the despair and participate in Unlimited Class Wrestling. Why? To quote Rockslide, "Because It'll be Awesome."
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Marvel owns these characters, but announcements regarding "Avengers Arena" have shaken my faith that they can handle them. So as an alternative to one Arena, I present another, happier one.

**Rockeslide's Wacky Wrestling!**

Prologue: Putting on a Show

Santo 'Rockslide' Vaccarro clenched his fists, the smile of a child on his craggy face, "This is the greatest thing ever."

"I still can't believe you talked everyone else into this," Victor 'Anole' Borkowski, his 'partner' for the evening, sighed. "I mean, how did you get in contact with like half of them? And how the hell did you convince them this was a good idea?"

"Dude? Internet!" Santo answered with a wave of his hands, "And you underestimate my powers of persuasion. " He scratched his chin and then added, "Some did need more convincing than others, but when I laid this out for them, they said they'd do it. Training and all!"

"Just so you can live out your dream?"

Anole considered Santo his friend. An abrasive, idiotic one, but still a friend. He just couldn't believe he managed to orchestrate all of this—an entire wrestling circuit composed of young heroes from across the country. He had a venue, danger-room tech to create any match scenario they needed, cameras to record it for online sales, a teleportation network to get everyone in and out, and he got every major team to agree to participate. And what they agreed to do in this show—that still boggled his mind.

Currently in the ring, one of their classmates was squaring off against a kid from a 'rival school' as it were. Hisako 'Armor' Ichiki found herself locked in an odd test of strength with the Avenger's student Humberto 'Reptil' Lopez. With the Danger Room tech at their disposal, programing dream matches was easily done and this was certainly a dream.

In the arena's center, there was no wrestling ring. The setup itself was more like a Roman amphitheater, but the center was something odd. It was a city, a somewhat miniature city, accurate in every detail, right down to the little bricks in the walls and furniture inside. It made both of them look like they were true giants—which is saying something, because Armor was not even 5ft tall normally.

However neither was normal, which was the point of Unlimited Class Wrestling. It allowed people with Super Powers to wrestle it out. In this case, Armor's 'armor' made her look like a giant robot, and Reptil's current form was that of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Rockslide called it a 'Daikaiju Showdown Match.'

Anole couldn't believe that his friend had such marketing savvy when normally his brain was as dense as the rocks that made up his body.

"So how much talking did Amadeus do?"

After a moment, Santo relented, "A lot."

* * *

Inside the miniature cityscape, the two students were locked in battle; Reptil's tyrannosaur jaws locked firmly on Armor's protected shoulder. Inside her psychokinetic armor, she was several feet away from the powerful teeth. It still worried her that he could scrape it.

'Man, I bet this looks great' Reptil' 'thought to her. With his mouth full, he couldn't exactly talk. Thankfully, with the Stepford Cuckoo's backstage, telepathic communication was a snap.

'Don't get too distracted,' Hisako thought back, 'Don't need the headache from shattered armor.'

'Speaking of headaches, how long until you gonna—' Reptil's words were cut off in his mind as Hisako shifted her grip on his torso and hoisted his Tyrannosaur form into the air, vertically. He thrashed in pseudo futility outing every effort to looking as though he were trying to escape her grip.

To be fair, he wasn't sure he could if she really tried.

'Go limp,' she thought to him, just before he felt a weightlessness in his gut as she brought him down head first into one of the larger structures. Judging by the number of floors he smashed through, he guessed it had to be an office building. At this "size", it was hard to tell some of the finer details.

As per their plan, he went limp on impact, flopping on impact, eyes shut in a false unscheduled slumber. Reptil's form shifted from that of a mighty tyrannosaur, to the athletic Latino teen he was (though he still retained the red skin), splayed out like a starfish. She released her armor, rushed over and threw herself across his chest, hooking one of his legs in a classic wrestling pin.

With his eyes shut, he felt himself 'daredevil up' very slightly. Sadly, he had yet to be able to call up the skin of a feathered therapod without also getting the feathers, but he still got a nice readout on her from his other senses. Part of him wanted to flush a bit from embarrassment, being this close to a girl who wasn't his girlfriend. Her matted hair tickled his chin and smell of simply her was very hard to ignore. Before the count began proper, he had to let her know:

'Careful,' Reptil thought to her, 'You'll make my girlfriend jealous.'

It broke her concentration for a moment and she turned her head to face him, 'Shutup!' a blush building on her face.

'No, seriously, please don't make my girlfriend jealous.'

Unfortunately for Reptil, his girlfriend was watching. Though she had extreme trouble understanding emotions herself, she could read them rather well. She assured herself that it was simply the body's reaction to being close to a young woman and Humberto's mild shyness in play. But the assurances were not being accepted fully by her brain. At first this confused her, but then it struck her.

She wondered, perhaps this was jealousy?

"And dino-boy looks like he's down for the count!" Chase Stein called out, standing up from his chair, holding the mike in one hand and planting one foot firmly on the announcers table as the referee robot's counter reached two.

Gertrude Yorks smirked, "And his girlfriend is watching."

The count hit three and the local crowd erupted in cheers.

"Oh-ho-ho!" Chase leaned into her, "Do I smell trouble in paradise?"

Gert said, "Trouble, or something very kinky. With them, it's hard to tell."

Chase sat back down in the chair and snorted before laughing uproariously. He couldn't help it. He was having fun. The energy was just too hard to ignore. "Alright, alright," He said, trying to calm himself down, "In our next contest, we have . . . "

Chase blinked to make sure his eyes weren't fooling him. Then he rubbed them just in case. Then he rubbed the page, just to make sure IT was real. Fate, it seemed, didn't want him to calm down.

Gert watched the features in Chase's face flush. At first she was surprised—how could Chase forget something like this upcoming match? Then she remembered that he didn't bother to read the fight card beforehand. She didn't mind, Chase seemed like flying by the seat of his pants, though she did find the match itself mildly off putting. But if they agreed to do it and basically pander to the bassist male instincts, that was their choice. She could think of reasons for it, but hell would freeze over before she mentioned them to anyone.

Chase's voice positively boomed when he found it, "Lightspeed and Lucy in the Sky in a bikini oil wrestling match! Woo-hoo!"

Gert could tell that Rockslide was a sexist pig at heart, but that the two agreed to it was another thing entirely. Still. Their bodies, their choice. SHe still sighed and shook her head at the failings of modern society.

* * *

Anole screamed out his frustrations, "Damnit, Santo!"

Santo giggled like a series of pebbles rolling downhill, "Yeah. This is gonna be sweet."

It took a few seconds for Anole to form the words, but they were important ones, "Why?! – How?! I think 'how' is the more important question. How the hell did you get them to agree to this?"

"Because I'm Awesome!" Was Rockslide's lone answer.

Backstage, the sound of Anole slapping his forehead echoes loudly.

* * *

Chase cleared his throat after cheering for the exploitative match coming up next before adding, "And closing tonight, we have a Tag Team event as Anole and Rockslide take on the team of Hulkling and Wiccan! So be sure to stick around while we scrape Reptil off the mat."

"So grab your popcorn now, because you won't want to miss a second."


	2. Not So Secret Origin

**Not So Secret Origins**

It happened really, by chance. In Los Angeles, while 'playing superhero' with Anole and Rockslide saved a young couple in danger that didn't really need saving. To the two mutants, it looked like a teen couple—an Asian kid in a nice suit, and a redheaded Goth girl in a slinky black dress—about to be mugged by a gang of 5 armed thugs in an alley.

Still, Anole and Rockslide moved first. Rockslide was never one for subtlety. He landed with such force in the alley, the cement cracked and one of the thugs fell on his butt.

"You guys are gonna get ROCKED!"

Anole cringed as the phrase left Rockslide's mouth, but both had been doing this for over a week already, so they knew the score. The thugs didn't last more than 20 seconds between the two mutant heroes. But when they turned around, they did not see a grateful couple. They saw an annoyed one.

"Well," The girl said, "At least it was a show."

"Damnit," The boy said, "Now we'll have to find some MORE Muggers."

The fake mustache on Anole's lip unstuck itself just enough for it to fall a little in front of his mouth. A quick force push up by his lips set it again, but it was still lopsided now, "W-Wait, you guys were looking for trouble?"

"I wanted to relieve some stress," The girl said, "As an amazon, that usually involves violence. Amadeus suggested I try fighting crime. But it looks like we were working in your territory?"

"Territory?" Anole said, "Super Heroes don't have territory. I mean, have you seen New York?"

"Yeah, this is our turf! " Rockslide boomed, "So that means we gotta do the usual when super heroes meet!"

The girl, Delphyne, looked confused, but Amadeus knew exactly where this was going. "Oh man, you can't be serious!"

"Totally!" Rockslide grinned.

"Uh, Delphyne," he turned to the girl as she brought up a wrists and clicked a small switch on one of her bracelets. In an instant, her complexion and form changed from human to something much more reptilian: green skin, a flattened nose that reminded Anole of Lord Voldemort and serpents where her hair once was.

"Honey, can I borrow your mace?" She said. Amadeus rolled his eyes and reached into his suit.

"Dude, its chick-you!" Rockslide said, pointing at the gorgon.

Anole sighed, "No, that's a Gorgon, I'm a lizard person. Also, why aren't we stone?"

"Different species," Delphyne answered as Amadeus handed her a golden metallic mace that was far too large to have fit in the coat he was wearing unnoticed, "So should I take on the both of you or—"

Anole waved off, "Leave me out of the big hero fights."

"Fine by me!" Rockslide said and rushed the gorgon.

She pointed the mace at the charging rock man and there was a flash of light.

Anole and Amadeus watched the brawl reach its inevitable conclusion: none. In the time since the brawl began, Amadeus and Anole managed to: find a bench with a good view of the action, grab for some fast food, eat it at a leisurely pace and clean up. Rockslide and Delphyne exchanged blow after blow, to no real conclusion. The tide turned back and forth, but it just kept going. Mostly because Santo just would not stay down.

"Just how many times do I have to smash you to bits before you give it up?!" Delphyne's voice was ragged, barely getting out two words between heaving breaths.

Rockslides retort was more punctuated, and spaced, "I can keep this up longer than you can."

"Ya know what? You need to stop," Amadeus stood up from the bench, waving his hands just as Delphyne smashed off Rockslide's head for the eighth time that evening, "Or at least we gotta start charging for this, we're getting gawkers."

Anole looked around. Though they kept a good distance back, there were at least 3 dozen people now out at 2. A.M. watching the two 'super heroes' go at it.

"Hey," The severed head of Rockslide mused, "Why don't we?"

All eyes turned to him, "I mean. What's stopping us?"

"It's a silly idea to begin with," Amadeus countered.

"Nah—Let me lay it out" Rockslide pulled himself back together and began to lay it out.

Anole had seen posters for Unlimited Class wrestling in Rockslide's room before, but here, he just opened up. How he and the Hellions back before M-Day crossed with a man known as the Kingmaker. He always wanted to join Unlimited Class wrestling, and that was his shot. Things went south and they stopped the villain, but he could never join a UCW as a result of it.

But he went on and, as inelegant as it was, he struck a chord of how all the heroes of their generation were isolated from each other and the first to go down when things got hot in the 'world in danger' sorta thing. They were separated and disconnected. Even training like they were, they weren't surviving to well.

So why not pull it all together? Train together. Hang out together. And to support it all: a wrestling show to test their skills and fund the thing. But mostly? Just have a place to breath away from the continual crisis.

Anole thought his heart was in the right place, but it sounded ridiculous. It would have been nice to have during Osborn's regime, but it was just unrealistic. Anole was caught off guard when Amadues said "I think I can work something out for that."

Anole blinked, "Wait, you can?"

"Sure, I'm the seventh smartest person on the planet. It wouldn't take too much at all."

Delphyne rolled her eyes.

"Wait, how did you find out that?"

Amadeus paused, stopping himself from admitting that a soap box company told him, so he decided to tell them something else: "Remember that time when a Red Hulk was in Washinton and all the heroes hulked up to?"

* * *

"Yeah, that was awesome." Rockslide laughed.

Amadeus smirked, "Well, the guys behind it kidnapped the smartest people on the planet, themselves not included. Ya know, Black Panther, Hank Pym, Reed Richards and even Doom. Leader and MODOK were the ones behind it. Me and Bruce Banner managed to put the kybosh on their plans, partly because Leader and MODOK didn't think of me as a threat."

"Oh, Hey! I remember you now!" Anole said, "You're Hercules' Ero-"

"I AM NOT HIS EROMENOS!"

That's when the building began. The idea of a refuge from the madness appealed to many. When they saw the place's facilities, buffets to tropical beaches, it became impossible to say no to.

And thus, Santo's dream became reality.


	3. Certainly Gratuitous

**Certainly Gratuitous**

Gert was slowly starting to become mortified on behalf of the two participants. The lights were dimmed tinted with black light. Chase leaned towards her and whispered assurances into her ear, "Don't worry babe, I still only got eyes for you."

"And that explains the drool somehow?" Gert looked away from him.

"Hey," Chase said, "It just shows ya I'm still alive and active."

"Okay," Gert eyes him, "You'd better be able to prove it later."

"Challenge accepted."

Chase then picked up the microphone and began his duty, "The following contest is scheduled for one fall and a thirty minute time limit. Also, it's an Oil Wrestling Match!" Chase let the cheers, hoots and howls of the crowd.

The Danger Arena had modified itself into something truly over the top. The "ring" for oil wrestling in most cases was kept extremely small. Here, though, with two high speed fliers about to do battle, special considerations had to be made. For one, a clear roof over the ring kept them from flying more than a foot off the ground. Inside it, they could stand up, but that's about it. The ring itself was also tremendous—a circle almost 30 square feet in diameter, gave them plenty of room to slide and dive along the warm oil that lined the bottom.

"Introducing first, in the red and black bikini," Chase was exaggerating a little. It was a bit more modest than most Bikini's he'd seen in LA. The bottoms might as well be hot pants, and the top was built more for proper swimming than showing off, like a two piece version of an Olympic swimsuit. The red was a soft, subdued shade, letting her red hair stand out more than the suit. The red formed a racing stripe down the center of her body, with the black outlining it. "Lightspeed!"

She hovered over the walkway the Danger Arena provided, waving to the appreciative masses. Julie Power wasn't that tall, but she made up for it with her sweet smile.

"She's one of the most experienced young heroes out there," Gert said, attempting to add some informative content to this blatant piece of fanservice, "So she's a strong opponent for this match and the upcoming championship trials."

"She may give up a height advantage, but she puts those inches elsewhere, if you catch my drift" Chase switched the mike for the commentary mode—he dare not say that line to Julie' face.

Gert just rolled her eyes, "You're disgusting."

"Babe, you know I'm more of an—"

"I know, and if you keep this up, you won't get any."

Chase audibly gulped, but Gert's sly smile got him to burst into laughter. She giggled slightly, but kept her composure. She switched her microphone to "Announcer" mode and finished the intros.

"And her opponent, in the lime green bikini," Gert hesitated a bit before saying the super hero code name, "Lucy in the Sky!"

It was just so childish to her now. Why they picked them and what they meant then, it was just so far removed from where they were now. Still, they didn't want to advertise their identities too much, so code names had to be used.

Lucy in the Sky, or rather, Karolina dean was very much a California girl. A tall blonde with a thin build, she was not as well 'developed' as some super heroines out there, but that only served to make her look more natural. Like Julie, Lucy's bikini was built sturdily, though a bit more revealing than the veteran's. Both hugged their figures tightly, almost like a second skin.

"Now, for this match," Chase said, "There's only a few ways to win. Pins are extremely hard to pull off, and submission holds are hard to keep going. If they can score a knockout blow, that'd be there best bet. This match may go on for a while until one of these two ladies is simply too exhausted to continue."

What she didn't say was that this one would be a shoot match. Normally, in all pro wrestling, the moves are staged and choreographed. The moves designed to protect more than injure. In a shoot, some of that protection was gone. The bigger moves were still safety oriented, but other blows were not as softened. Gert had pegged Julie with a competitive streak with her acting aspirations and all, but the kind, vegan Karolina? That was a bit of a surprise.

"I get exhausted just thinking about the pervert who set this up." Gert grumbled.

Inside the ring, the two conferred in a much more jovial nature.

"A-Are you ready for this?" Julie said as she stepped into the bizarre ring. Her voice stammered a bit with excitement. The energy of anticipation would not let her be still.

Karolina was little better, "I-I can't wait to feel you squirming under me." Her voice tried to be commanding and dominant, but it wavered with her own nervousness. Armor later called it "The worst Emma Frost impression ever".

Chase would have done a spit take if he was drinking something. Some people in the audience made up for him.

Julie was left a little dumbstruck, 'Okay' she thought at her opponent, 'what the hell was that?'

'Okay so I tried to do some witty banter and failed! I'm sorry!' Karolina's thoughts ran fast and the sentence almost came out as a single word. Her face began to have a slight red tint to it.

After a moment, Julie asked 'Do you?'

Karolina didn't answer with her mind, but her face flushed further.

'It's okay,' Julie assured, 'it's . . . kind of the reason I accepted this match.' At which point, their blush was mutual.

Thankfully for both, the bell rang.

Both immediately took to the air, what little room was allotted, and sped towards each other. Julie left behind a rainbow contrail, while Karolina shinned with a cacophony of bright colors—and launched some of them towards Julie—slamming her in the chest and tossing her back. She almost fell to the ground, but caught herself before falling in.

"Oh, what a hit!" Chase called out.

"Lightspeed may have a speed advantage," Gert said, "But if she doesn't dodge Lucy's blasts, she won't be able to stay afloat."

"And that's when the oil comes into play! YES!" Gert rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.

In the arena, Julie looked up at Karolina, who thought at her, 'Hey, I still want to win.'

'That is so not fair,' Julie grumbled, 'But I can do rough.'

Julie charged forth and Karolina blasted her cacophony of colors at the smaller girl, only to miss entirely.

The next thing Karolina knew, Julie shoulder-slammed into her back, sending her careening into the side, skimming the surface and sending the oil out as though Moses parted the 'oil sea'. She still managed to remain untarnished by the clear substance.

That's when she took to full speed.

From the sidelines, things were hard to follow.

"Man, it's like a sea of rainbows in there," Chase whistled.

"I'm not sure how long they can keep that up," Gert's stomach gurgled, "Or how long I can keep following it."

Without warning the nature of the burs changed completely. Karolina's wash of colors dominated the blur completely and appeared to be simply spinning in the center.

"If either of them pukes . . ." Chase moaned.

"It looks like Lucy has Lightspeed in an energy bubble and is going to—" Before Gert could finish, her prediction came true. Karolina released Julie and she bounced off the ceiling, slid on floor and ricocheted twice off the walls, "toss her!"

"Wow! What a power move!" Chase pumped a fist into the air.

But Karolina was not able to celebrate her victory. The spin rendered her far to dizzy to even stay aloft and she tumbled down into the oil as well, landing on her rump, joining Julie in the liquid. Karolina managed to get to her knees as Julie rolled onto her back. The light from both of their bodies faded greatly.

Gert said, "After all that movement, I expected some slow down, but this is a bit much."

"With Lucy on her knees," Chase said, "at least it won't be a double count out."

Karolina slid towards the writhing Julie and reached down to grab her, only to have Julie lock her arms around her waist before her.

"Playing possum!" Chase said, "A classic feint."

Caught off guard, Karolina was knocked over quickly as Julie righted herself to her knees and rocketed across the arena, slamming Karolina's back into the wall and driving her shoulder into Karolina's stomach. Karolina let out a pained cry and dropped, clutching her stomach as Julie backed off.

"Lucy thought she had it in the bag, but Lightspeed jumper her and now she smells blood." Gert brought her hand up to her chin.

With Karolina stunned, Julie easily managed to get atop her opponent. Julie grabbed onto Karolina's body completely, using the girl's taller frame against her and wrapping both her arms and legs around her. Then Julie began to spin the two of them. Fast.

The twirling top that the two teens slid across the oily floor, but was not because of the high speed, but to keep Karolina's back properly lubricated so as she wouldn't get a burn from the speed. Julie felt Karolina's struggles weaken as the centrifugal force overwhelmed the taller girl. With that, Julie let her go spinning into one of the padded walls. She bounced off and slid a good distance, but the effect was still what she wanted. Karolina was down and disoriented.

Julie pounced on the taller girl and at first sat on her toned stomach. She leaned forward and grabbed Karolina's wrists, pinning them to the ground. However, the oil between them caused her to slide slightly down Karolina's body. To brace herself, Julie entwined her legs with Karolina's, pressing herself up against the blonde. "Had enough?" she said.

Only a moan escaped Karolina as she squirmed underneath Julie. Her mind, however, did have an answer 'Don't stop on my account.'

Julie released her grip on Karolina's hands and legs. Sitting up on the girl's stomach, she picked Karolina up by the head and wrapped her arm around it, forming a crude headlock that brought the blonde's head close to her chest. Despite the oil which now soaked both combatants, her grip on Karolina's head was firm. Karolina's brief attempts to escape amounted to a few apparently feeble slaps.

Gert's mind, however, was sadly in a more guttural place. "Damnit Rockslide," Gert muttered, "If you put them up to that . . . "

"What're ya talkin' bout, babe?" Chase turned to his girlfriend.

"Shoving Lucy's head in her boobs? C'mon!?"

"Oh! Hey, you're right!" Chase grinned, "Keep it up!"

Gert slapped her forehead and sighed.

'Are you enjoying this hold?' Julie thought to her opponent.

'Maybe,' Karolina smiled, but Julie could not see her, 'Doesn't mean I won't break out."

Karolina struggles increased in the hold as she time wore on, but the hold remained firm. Then, she placed a hand on Julie's stomach. The blast that emanated from her hands knocked herself free and sent Julie to the other side of the arena. When the beam subsided, both combatants fell, face first, into the oil, splayed out and nearly spent.

"Oh! Point Blank to the gut!" Chase winced, "That'll wind just about anybody."

"It's bought her time to recover," Gert said, "That's for certain."

"But can they?"

Their breath on the ground was ragged and heavy. Karolina rolled onto her back, 'You still with me?'

'Yeah,' Julie answered mentally, 'give me five minutes and I'll keep you down.'

'Guess I better not let you.' Karolina pushed herself up slightly and slid her weary body towards Julie's prone form. She hesitated for a moment, but when she got within range, Julie sprang back to life. Both of their attempts were rather feeble at this point. Julie's lunge forced Karolina onto her back; both flopped together in their disorientation. Julie wrapped her arms around the first thing she could feel, which happened to be Karolina's chest and arms. Then she began to squeeze. Karolina arched back and let out a pained wail.

"They're running on fumes," Gert said.

All Chase could manage was "This is SO hot."

Gert let out a grown and shook her head.

'W-where do you get this energy from?!' Karolina's thoughts were hard to form in her pain, but she still managed to send it to Julie.

'Years of practice,' Julie thought, 'I've been at this sort of thing for a lot longer than I'd like to admit. It just builds you up.'

Try as she might, but Karolina could not dislodge her opponent. Not even the extra give of the oil could budge Julie's grip. Karolina tried to get her legs around Julie, but she simply did not have the strength to counter attack while being crushed up against her opponent. After three attempts to secure her legs, she simply let them flop to the ground.

'Yeah,' Karolina let out a sigh physically, 'I'm pretty much done.'

'Oh, You done?' Julie smiled against Karolina's shoulder, loosening the grip.

'Yeah,' her body continued to struggle, but they were halfhearted and had no way of letting her escape, 'How do you want to end this?'

'I'll be honest, I'm pretty beat. I'm gonna squeeze once. Just thrash and go limp.'

Karolina tilter her head back as her answer. True to her word, Julie squeezed tightly. Karolina reached down deep and put her remaining energy into an operatic wail. She reached out with one arm with apparent desperation, her muscles quivering involuntarily from lactic acid buildup, adding to the drama. The other arm pushed against Julie in frenzied false attempts to escape, her legs thrashing unevenly as if fin a panic. Then, without warning, she closed her eyes, let her colorful form revert to that of a normal human and went completely limp, with only a single spasm of motion across her limbs before Julie allowed herself to relax her false grip.

They were both grateful when the bell finally rang, ending the match.

'That was a nice one, Kar', Julie thought, 'You definitely have a gift for acting.'

'Thanks,' Karolina kept her face limp, but inside she was smiling, 'I picked up some things being your study-buddy.'

'Nice to see you using that talent,' Julie let out a sigh, 'God, I don't want to get up.' She wasn't sure she could, either.

'Me either.' Karolina added.

'To tired, to comfy.'

'Same.'

"What a throw down!" Chase said, "Lightspeed has the heart of a Champion, but Lucy was no slouch either. Never surrendering an inch!"

"Looks like we're going to have to scrape both of them off the mat to get ready for the next match." Gert said, before sending her thoughts along the telepathic network, 'you two alright?'

The joint response of 'shah! We're having a moment,' caused her to blink, but then sigh.

"I volunteer to help them out!" Chase stood up, only to have the edge of his shirt grabbed and yanked, forcing him back into his seat.

"No you're not." Gert glared at him.

"Hey," Chase shrugged, "can you blame me for tryin'" and winked. Gert knew it was just part of an on-air act to some degree, but that there was part of him that still wanted to go up and fondle the limp lesbians annoyed her.

She really did love him.

* * *

That night, Julie and Karolina found themselves again holding each other, as if they never let go. Gentler and both with smiles on their faces as they rested. It was a weird life they now lead, but they were happy with it.


	4. The Infinite Hostel

**The Infinite Hostel**

Chase came up with the name for the extra-dimensional hideaway Amadeus constructed for housing everyone and hosting the events. He and his friends were the first to accept the invitation as a group, so they staked their claims early. Even with the overall goal of the project. They eventually found themselves living there more often than anywhere else, downright moving in after a month. Only a few others followed that example.

Nico Minoru relaxed in what at first looked like a sunny Pacific beach. The water was deep blue green, the sky clear and she, despite her normally gothic dress attire, appeared to be sunbathing. But that was a lie. Almost like the lie of where she was. The "Infinite Hostel" had so many places in it that several rooms were dedicated to simulating 'vacation spots'. This was one of them.

Her sunbathing was not just a sign of laziness, though. She was sore. Very sore. The Infinite Hostel was many things, but it was restful only occasionally. The only requirement for staying like they did was that they participate in the 'festivities' every now and then—once every two weeks at the minimum. And Nico's few showings rendered her rather popular, which led to Rockslide pestering her constantly to keep at it. He was just so damn persistent that it was difficult to say 'no'. Before she knew it, she had a championship belt. The "Wizard Duelist Champion". It may have been staged victories, relying on as many smoke and mirrors as a stage magician's illusion. But the others could agree with it. She wasn't the most powerful (that would be Billy), nor did she have the most training (that would be Megan). But she had the most practical experience in combat magic, and wasn't afraid to throw in a heel to the chin on top of that.

That belt got her into other fighting circuits—namely, the Skill and Welter Weight divisions. Those were the current source of her soreness. Namely the Skill division. No powers, just fighting ability of any normal human. Even with the staging and the training, it still hurt. Hell, the training hurt too. She could count bruises and strains given to her by Jeanne, Kate, Cassie, Chase, Gert and Jenny all in that division. Being zapped unconscious by Noriko or Victor didn't leave as many lasting bruises at least. Physically, the injuries would be healed quickly thanks to godly healing techniques Amadeus had access to and Josh's mutant healing ability, nothing really lasted. But it was extremely tiring, which is why she was here now. And also some of her new friends surfing. Now that they all could, Alani and Ken brought along Jenny to teach her to surf on the 'Perfect beginner's beach.'

Jenny, or Hazmat, was someone she bonded with rather quickly when they first met at Avengers Academy. Jenny was a smart girl who wouldn't back down and whose lot in life honestly sucked more than hers. Or, at least it did. She had been a big part of changing that, but without Billy and Amadeus helping and guiding, neither Jenny nor her boyfriend Ken could do what they were doing now. Surfing together in the open world. Amadeus sang its praises as their big one up over the adults. It wasn't a cure for their powers, but it was control over them. A "Second Skin" and "Dial It Back". Jenny still emitted low level radiation and people with allergies would sometimes have skin reactions when they touched her, but it wasn't a threat to life and limb. Maybe if a person was in non-stop contact with her for a thousand years, they might get a little ill from the radiation, but that was a remote possibility. The only downside was that anyone with an allergic reaction 'reacted' on contact with her. That was certainly annoying and sometimes dangerous, but a vast improvement.

It took Jenny a while, emotionally, to get used to being able to touch other people again, but once it came back, she honestly couldn't stop. Sometimes, it showed a whole lot.

* * *

Nico let out a partially faked, pained scream as Jenny slammed into her chest, knocking her to the ground. A flying cross body press is one of those moves that's hard to fake well, but Nico was a quick study. She rolled with it, but it still winded her. Better than having the back of your head slammed to the ground at any rate. She held onto Jenny so she could go for her pin attempt without bouncing too far off, but was caught off guard when she swiveled about and grabbed both her wrists and went for a full body pin, straddling her stomach.

Jenny stared directly into Nico's eyes and thought to her, 'Ready to stop?' The robo-ref counted one.

Though breathing hard and hurting, she muscled a hand free and popped a shoulder up, breaking the count at two and grinned, 'What do you think?'

* * *

Ken was somewhat the same way. After not being able to feel for so long, his returned senses (even as dulled as they were) were a godsend. Being trapped in a suit had the same effect. Now free of that, they could not keep their hands of each other. At all. It was pretty cute, even with the over-exposure. The only down side was that they remained effectively locked in their room for two days following the spells.

She looked away from the surfing trio, (well, two were surfing—Jenny was more trying to surf and falling in the water repeatedly). She curled up under the beach umbrella, wrapping her arms around her knees. She helped them truly get together, and it made her feel more alone than ever. Karolina and Julie's "Show" the night before only made it more obvious in her heart.

She knew it was a mistake, one she found herself repeating mostly in times of stress. Reaching for someone, anyone, to give her that extra boost of confidence to keep going. Something gnawed at her gut—this thing, this whole thing, it was too good to last. When it fell apart, she had to be ready. She needed the support.

Another part of herself screamed that such thinking was wrong, a mistake. Another part pointed out that there was nearly a 3 to one ratio of girls to boys in this little club, so the chances of finding a single partner were slim to none. At least, if she looked for guys. And she couldn't look at girls without thinking of Karolina. Did she have feelings for her? She just wasn't sure.

"So are you just gonna sit there and sulk or are you gonna go in the water," Jenny's life might have been easier now, but her voice was just as abrasive as when she first met her. It was reassuring, "because it seems a waste of a perfectly good beach."

Nico shrugged, "Did you get sick of falling of the board?"

Hazmat gave a half smile, but scowled a bit, "Oh, you are just asking for a rematch, aren't you?"

* * *

Nico steadied herself on the top turnbuckle as Jenny got back to her feet.

'Man,' Jenny thought, emphasizing her woozy state, 'do ya gotta do it from the top rope?'

'Yes. Yes I do,' Nico thought back.

Nico leapt into the air and drove two feet into Jenny's chest, sending the other girl literally end over end.

'You're a real witch, ya know that,' Jenny though as she finished her tumble face down and splayed out.

Nico too flopped on the ground from the drop kick. Picking herself up and leaning up on her shoulders, she looked at Jenny's still form and thought, 'Do you have to sell it so much?"

'Yes. Yes I do.'

* * *

Nico did her best to stop herself from rolling her eyes obviously as she picked herself up, rolled to her hands and knees and scrambled towards Jenny's prone form. She didn't bother hooking the leg; she just draped herself over the girl and let the count reach three.

"Hey," Ken said, walking up to them, "No need for that. I mean, I'd want to rest after the Aya choked you out like three days ago?" Ken then put his hand on Jenny, "And didn't you get knocked out by Maddy on Friday?"

"It's hard to fight someone when they turn into chloroform," Jenny folded her arms up and looked away.

"As long as we're reminiscing," Nico slid to the side of the beach recliner, and sat on it, "How about that Unlimited Class Battle Royal for the belt? Remember that?"

Ken sighed and looked away just before his girlfriend poked him in the ribs, "I remember that one too," she said.

* * *

Toro was in bad shape before Mettle smashed him into the ground with a clothesline, but that blow definitely knocked the wind out of him. Grabbing the bull-man by the hornes, Mettle picked him back up and pulled him closer, grabbing his waist, and picked him up. He held the large kid vertically for a good 10 seconds as the locals in the crowd snapped pictures. Then he fell backwards, completing his suplex. The entire ring shook as the two power houses crashed to earth.

Sister Grimm and Hazmat were taken by surprise, wobbling on their feet. Sister Grimm caught herself with the Staff of One, but Hazmat fell to the floor, though not before shooting off another energy pulse towards the witch. The blast of electricity ran up Sister Grimm's leg and brought her to her knees. Hazmat rolled to her feet rather quickly and launched herself at Sister Grimm, reading another energy volley, only to have it cut short by a single thrust of the staff. Twin glowing hands of energy formed on either side of Hazmat and with the command of "**Swat**," the hands came together, crushing her.

The hands dissipated and Hazmat fell on her back, winded.

Sister Grimm rolled her Staff back, and it neatly tucked itself on her back as she moved in on the stunned Hazmat until another thud caught her attention.

Toro insensate form slammed into the floor outside the ring, eliminating him. With that there were only three left. Hazmat, Mettle and Sister Grimm. The two Asian girls looked to each other, then to Mettle.

He was an imposing figure. Blood red with a skull like face. His eyes were very expressive and he was honestly the sweetest guy she'd ever met, but Nico was still intimidated by him when he looked like that. That she knew a beating was gonna take place by his hands did not help matters.

"Well, crap," Hazmat rolled her shoulders and charged her hands as she righted herself from Nico's attack, "Might as well go down swinging."

Nico nodded and unloaded her own variant of "magic missile" against Mettle as Hazmat blasted him with energy. He folded his arms over his face and simply walked up to the two Asians, his figure loomed over them as he got close.

Before either of them could utter a word or curse, Mettle put a hand on each of them, and shoved them together violently. The two girls slammed back-to-back, letting out a pained cry as they stumbled back into Mettle's arms. Nico dropped her staff and watched it roll out of the ring as she was turned around to face Hazmat and slammed against her again, chest to chest. Their struggles were mere twitched after he repeated the procedure twice more. Both were rendered apparently insensate and winded by the slams, before Mettle drove them both into the ground with a double power bomb, rattling the ring and the arena. Both girls were left splayed out on their backs, eyes skyward.

"Ow," Nico managed. She could hear people apparently cheering their winner when the crowd's voice picked up in volume. She saw two giant hands throwing Mettle into the air and out of the ring in one fell swoop.

She rolled onto her stomach and took an aside glance—Hazmat remained looking skyward and breathing heavily.

Turning to the ring, she saw Cassie Lang, Stature, 20ft tall and receiving the accolades of the crowd. She'd soon get the Unlimited Class Championship belt too. And all she did was shrink down to ant size and hide out until the right moment presented itself.

The words 'opportunistic bitch' crossed her mind, but she had to admit, it was a clever move.

* * *

"Hey, I got tossed farther than anyone else that night!" Ken said.

"Yes, because being power bombed by you is so much better," Jenny said and gave him a shove. Ken, however, wasn't ready and tumbled forward, onto Nico, knocking them both into the sand.

Nico was surprised, but unhurt by the tumble. Honestly, with his body almost totally human now, it made her flush. His skin tone was a little red (as were his teeth to be honest), but he could feel and taste still (though dulled). His surfers build that close to her, smelling of the sea and sweat, did not help her current troubles. Still, she managed to cry out, "Hey! Pins don't count outside the ring!"

Jenny had brought her hands to her face when Ken tumbled, but once he started laughing at Nico's outcry, she couldn't help following in suit.

He got up and offered her a hand. Nico took it and was pulled up easily by the large Hawaiian.

"Listen," Jenny said, "We're about to head up to the hot tube. I know you need it as much as we do. Wanna join us?"

Nico blinked several times in rapid succession. Her mind a whirl with the alternate meanings, "I—I don't—wait."

"Look," Jenny interrupted, "Even I can tell you're all tensed up and outa whack. You need to wind down." Jenny smirked and said, "Hell, I know I gave you some of those aches."

Jenny's challenge allowed Nico to compose herself again, "Not as many as you think."

"Alright, we don't need any more off that. C'mon!" Ken scooped Nico up in his powerful arms; Nico felt the blood rushing to her face and cursed her pale complexion for betraying her. The only saving grace was that he threw her over her shoulder, so she could chalk it up to embarrassment "no arguments. You need to relax."

He stumbled a bit as Jenny jumped up on his back, "Yeah!" She held on tight as he continued to walk towards the hot tub with minimal effort, "Alani's already gone and set everything up. You need this, Nico. Just relax. After we loosen up, we're going for a massage. No buts."

Given the current situation, Nico was reasonably certain that was impossible. All she managed was a feint "I'm sure rushing all the blood to my head isn't helping either."


	5. Security Leaks

**Security Leaks**

Anole was in pretty bad shape, storyline wise at least. Midway through the match, not only had Wiccan managed to tag him with lightning, he also managed to trap him in the corner with Hulkling. They worked him over something fierce, but he managed to escape a pin attempt and make a tag out to Rockslide. Despite it being staged and planned to a degree, it still left him bruised, battered and overall he felt like he just got spun in a giant dryer for 16 minutes. He held onto the ropes breathing hard and fighting to stand up. He glanced up at the ring and hoped Rockslide was doing better.

He ended up quickly turning away as rock shrapnel scattered everywhere. When he looked up again, he saw Rockslide reforming himself and Wiccan face down flat near his corner of the ring.

"Oh yeah!" Rockslide raised his hands in the air and flexed to the crowd's adulation.

Wiccan managed to twitch feebly, but was not as bad off as he appeared, 'Ow! Santo! That really hurt!'

'Aw, suck it up!' Santo thought back, 'You got a lot more punishment to take.'

'Don't remind me.'

"Looks like Wiccan is running low on his magic," Chase said.

"And that leaves him at Rockslide's mercy," Gert scanned the combatants, "Hulking is aching for the tag to save his boyfriend."

Rockslide wrapped his hand around Wiccan's head and pulled the boy to his feet. A punch to the gut winded the wizard before he whipped Wiccan into the Corner, were Anole was waiting for him. Just as his feet touched the ground again, Wiccan found Anole's monstrous arm wrapped around his neck in a headlock.

"O! Corner action!" Chase paused, Gert looked at him, "This officially the gayest match we could put on."

"I think that was the last one, Chase." Gert took off her glasses and polished them.

"Nah, that was just awesome!"

Gert folded her arms and gave her boyfriend a hard stare, "Because lesbians aren't gay?"

Chase opened his mouth to answer, but stopped, looked at Gert with her raised eyebrow and closed it again.

Billy sighed internally, 'I know this is gonna look good, but why me?'

'You're too good at selling this sorta thing, Billy,' Victor answered, 'You're a natural actor.'

'Oh, lucky me-!' Billy's thoughts were cut off as Rockslide leapt into the air and splashed against the spell caster. Normally, this may have killed him, but by altering his density to the loosest sandstone, he cushioned the blow.

It still hurt like little else.

Anole altered the hold into a sleeper as Rockslide began to chop and shove the struggling Wiccan repeatedly. The small, floating ref-bot kept Hulkling in the corner, missing the choke like any good American referee failure.

"Man, why do our referee bots suck?" Gert asked.

Chase thought for a moment before answering, "I think it was rattled by Rockslide's explosive personality. I wouldn't want to get too close to him either if he was gonna pop."

Wiccan kicked and tugged at Anole's arm ad Rockslide wrapped a hand over his head and 'squeezed'. He let out a pained scream, to which Anole told him 'see? Oscar worth.'

Wiccan's hands sparked with electricity just before a massive lighting blast radiated out from his body, knocking Anole to the floor and blasting apart Rockslide. Wiccan, however, dropped to the floor. His brain was a fog, his energy low, but through the din he could hear the crowd chanting.

"Wic-Can! Wic-Can! Wic-Can!"

He couldn't help but smile and try to pull himself to the center of the ring, where Hulkling had stretched out his hand as far as the ref would allow for a tag.

"What an escape!" Chase said, "But if he can't make the tag he's through!"

"Rockslide is reforming quickly. He needs to move fast, but his body won't let him." Gert said.

He inched forward, crawling with only his arms, his legs appearing limp and useless. He could hear Rockslide reforming behind him, he stretched out his hand that final stretch, letting it shake with exhaustion as Rockslide loomed over him, fully reformed.

Rockslide reached down just as the tag was made.

"Tag" The little robot ref announced.

"Wha?" Rockslide said just before Hulkling took off from the corner and flew right through him smashing his torso to bits.

"Wow! Hulking is on fire! And ready to unleash a truly Hulk-styled smashing on Rockslide!" Chase said, "But can even a lover's fury be enough overcome that much rock?"

Billy rolled out of the ring and to the floor with a heavy sigh as the two massive teenagers began trading massive blows in the middle of the ring. He let out a sigh and let himself finally catch his breath.

'Ow,' He "Heard" Victor call out, 'that really hurt.'

'Sorry about that,' Billy look up at the ceiling lights of the Danger Arena, 'Had to make it look good.''

Curled up partially on his side, no one in the audience saw Victor roll his eyes.

Inside the ring, the action was reaching a climax. Rockslide nailed Hulkling with a boot to the gut to stop him in his tracks. Rockslide turned the skrull-kree hybrid around and wrapped his massive arms around Hulkings stomach.

"Well, this match is pretty much over," Gert said.

Chase pumped a fist into the air, "Rockslide's about to put Hulkling away for the evening!"

Before he recovered his wits, Hulkling found himself lifted into the air and slammed back down in a perfect fisherman's suplex which shook the arena. Hulking wasn't given any breather after that, either, as Rockslide turned about and suplexed the Young Avenger twice more. His brain was slightly fogged from the blows, but if he had, he would have heard the crowd and Rockslide's big chant:

"It's! My! Name! Bitch!"

On the last word, Rockslide turned Hulking around lifted him over his head, bringing his legs up over his shoulder, before jumping in the air and spiking Hulkling on the ground in a perfect power bomb.

And exploding at the same time.

The ring buckled, the turnbuckles dipped out and the canvas caved in. Anole took his cue and began to get back up, over emphasizing his injuries. Rockslide reformed and raised his fists in the air to the crowd's cheering as the ref bot registered the move as a "K.O."

'Teddy, are you alright' Billy thought, turning his head

'Yeah, gotta regenerate a bit, but yeah,' Teddy answered.

Billy let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, 'I got worried for a moment.'

'You should have!' Teddy said, 'That really hurt!'

'Crowd loved it, though,' Billy let the roar of the crowd wash over him for a moment, 'Santo was right, is it addicting.'

* * *

Ben Grimm, the ever-loving, blue-eyed Thing, was the first to pick up the trail, catching Bentley in his room watching something he shouldn't wasn't new. The kid pirated signals like a pro, but couldn't keep his voice all the way down when he reacted to what he watched. Bentley managed to escape immediate punishment at least for the moment because of exactly what he was watching: pay per view super hero wrestling.

Ben had experience in Unlimited Class Wrestling, and the kids were putting on some skills. It had a professional polish to it, but still had the heart of an amateur production. But some things were just unacceptable.

"Alex Power!" He called out. The blond genius came stumbling into the TV room a good 5 minutes later.

"Wow, why so loud?" Alex walked up to the giant man of rock before he looked at the TV. Once his eyes locked onto it, he nearly did a double take, "Ben! What are you watching?"

Ben blinked and looked at the screen, it was on the match he wanted, sure, but it was at a rather racy part of it. Then again, it was two super heroines grappling in oil, it's hard to find a part that isn't racy.

"I wasn't watchin' it," Ben said on reflex, "I caught Bentley watchin' it."

Alex nodded, "And you just happened to have it playing now because?"

"Ah, jeez" Ben slapped his forehead, "Just look who's in there!"

Alex looked again and gasped, "JULIE!?"

"Yeah, I thought you might want to know what your little sister is doin' in her off hours." Ben folded his arms up.

"What is she doing there?!" He turned to the screen and Ben back and forth, pretty shocked by what he saw.

"I dunno, looks like a bearhug pin to me."

"Not that, I mean there, doin' that!"

"I dunno, she ever mention anything like this to you?"

"No!" Alex could not take seeing his sister like that and shut down the screen, "She's supposed to be in that Avengers Academy most of the time, right? Where is she doin' this?"

"Dunno," Ben said, "But I think we better find out."

Alex cursed his large brain as all sorts of horrific scenarios ran through it. Whatever his sister got entangled with could not be good if they forced her to do something like that.

* * *

With the last of the guests gone, the arena closed down for the night. Rockslide met the backstage crew. He opened up his arms and let out a bellow, "Great show, guys!"

"The crowd was well entertained," The Stepford Cuckoos said, "They'll likely be a larger crowd tomorrow."

The three of them exchanged sentences as they talked, making it one odd conversation, "T-shirt sales are also up across the board. I know you're going to propose a swimsuit calendar, and estimating how much it'd pay out at this point, they'd probably agree. You're still a pig for thinking it."

"Hey," Rockslide raised his hands up defensively, "I know what the public wants."

"You know what the unwashed masses want," The cuckoos snapped back, "That isn't a good thing. You should be ashamed of yourself."

With that, the Cuckoos took their leave, "We're calling' it a night. Coordinating that much telepathic communication among non-psychics is extremely draining. Don't try and sneak a peak in your astral form again, we aren't that worn out."

"Hey! It was only once! And I didn't see nothin'"

"That's not what you told me," Anole elbowed his kidney as he passed his friend by, "Why you did that is beyond me, but-"

"He lied," The Cuckoos said blandly, "And even if he did, we would have purged it from his memory." The door closed behind them with a thud.

* * *

Not everyone leapt into the arena as readily as the children of the Pride or the Young Avengers did. Despite it being Rockslide's idea, not even all of the X-men students joined in. Hope's crew in particular adamantly refused, decrying the idea with such a fevered rate that it proved Rockslide's point about how wound up and apparently isolated the kids thought of themselves. A slot was left open for them, but so far, none had taken them up on the offer. Hisako Ichiki found many of the rejection to be rather full of themselves. Particularly self-centered arrogant on Hope's part. Her 'lights' didn't watch a bus full of their friends blow up post M-Day. They didn't know the real costs, nor the need for some release.

The Avengers Academy students also were split. The full timers were there, well, in full, but the part time students were a mixed bag. The oldest of them simply weren't told for fear of them ratting out the plan to the teachers. Lyra, the "Savage She-Hulk", was a shoe in. She took great pride in her strength and combat prowess, which sometimes clashed with the urge to keep it secret. The Boulder, Thunderstrike, Powerman and Juston also ended up joining the Hostel crew on weekends and afternoons.

On the other side of the continent, Rikki Barnes, the girl known as Nomad literally had little other places to go. Free food and housing were a godsend to the girl without a world. She convinced her friend Anya Corazon, Spider-Girl, and Benito 'Toro' Serrano to join in as well. Though Anya had it a bit better off, both were orphans and being in the Infinite Hostel allowed them to reconnect with people and fill some of the holes in their hearts. The Young Avengers took some convincing, but seeing the children of the Pride there finally tipped them over to hanging out and eventually joining.

All in all, Hisako Ichiki thought, it was a pretty large group—about 40 in total. Teens from across America gathered to hang out, train and goof around in a wrestling ring. It was completely senseless, but it was growing on her. The way things were going now, there was talk of letting even more in—like the kids who survived the Initiative experience. They were wary of the college-aged crowd initially, afraid they'd be ratted out for doing something 'reckless' and 'diverting'. Now that they were getting somewhat popular in their broadcasts, that fear would have to be faced head on regardless.

Everyone had a different view of the Infinite Hostel. Hisako mostly thought of it as a place to hang out. For all the training, problem-solving and 'fighting', it was more about the place to chill.

She was heading over to the hot tubs when a voice called out to her. Hisako turned to see three people by one of the lawn recliners: Ken, Jen and Nico. Nico lay on her stomach with Ken and Jen on either side sitting, Ken had his hands on Nico, the pale skin of her back shining in the 'sun'.

Hisako walked over to her friends and waved. Nico and Armor first met when the young X-Men students were asked to keep an eye on the 'runaways from LA' while their youngest member, Molly, visited the X-men headquarters in L.A. at the time. That 'keeping an eye on' devolved into them going clubbing until the next day. As they joined Rockslide's stupid idea, she saw a bit more of her. Apparently, at the club, it was the first time in a long time that she'd been able to relax and cut loose. It always seemed that she had the weight of the world, or at least her group, on her shoulders. She saw the same thing happen to Nori over time, but Nico wasn't as standoffish because of it. She liked that about her.

"Could you give us a hand?" Ken said, "Nico's all twisted up—"

Jen pointed to Nico's shoulder and smirked, "I caused that one."

"Didn't she pin you in that match?"

Jen's face scrunched up, "And I beat you last time, not the point."

Hisako rolled her eyes, "Yeah, because a double count out is totally a win."

"Still beat you," Jen stepped over to Hisako and looked her in the eye, "Up."

Hisako was very glad she filed for a rematch against the girl in front of her earlier. Otherwise, eh might have lost control just a little.

"Girls! Could we focus?" Ken said, "Nico needs to loosen up, you wanna help?"

Hisako put her hands on her hips, "What, you think that because I'm actually from Japan, I know about chi lines and chakras or something?"

"No," Nico sighed, "We think that because your powers literally funnel your ancestors."

Hisako's face scrunched up a bit.

"Well, do you know anything? " Ken rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, it's okay if you don't. . ."

Hisako paused, "Goddamn stereotypes being right."

Nico let out a laugh as Hisako joined the other two in the massage. Her smile turned into a frown when Hisako said, "Got any needles?"

* * *

"Oh man, we're cutting it close," Hazmat huffed as she ran through the halls of Avengers Academy.

"It's okay, we'll make it," Mettle said as he tried his best to follow quietly behind.

They rounded the corner and saw the coast was clear. They rushed into their rooms, deactivated and shrank the Life Model Decoys they placed for the weekend and then began to get ready for the day.

In the hallway outside their rooms, however, Tigra was making her rounds. Despite Mettle's best efforts, could not keep his footfall as quiet as he'd like. In his defense, though, he was dealing with the ears of a cat person. But the true damage was the smell. Even Hazmat's nuclear nature could not cover her scent, and the scents that clung to her. Not even with a thorough shower, some scents still linger.

* * *

"Hank, I think the kids are up to something."

Hank Pym, Ant-Man, did not move, his eyes were focused on whatever microscopic entity he perceived in the microscope. Normally, this would annoy her, but Greer Grant Nelson, Tigra, could recognize when her boyfriend was splitting his attention. He was a genius after all.

"I almost caught Hazmat and Mettle running back from somewhere off campus this morning," She folded her arms in front of her chest, "Not sure from where though."

"Oh?" Hank arched an eyebrow, "Your nose is usually really good at that."

"It is, but they weren't any place I've been to before," She said, "But I did pick up other smells."

Hank grunted, asking her to continue.

"Honestly, I smelled group sex."

That caused Hank to stumble and almost drop his tools, "W-wh-what?!"

"It was definitely sex I smelled," She continued, "And I picked up the scent of at least three in total off them."

"I know kids these days are a bit more open, but that's a bit much." Hank rubbed the back of his head, "Did you recognize any scent."

Tigra said, "Aside from our kids, I could identify one other scent. It was that Runaway girl Nico Minoru."

Hank cupped his chin between his index finger and his thumb, "Now that might be a lead."


	6. Like Lightning

**Like Lightning**

Noriko Aishida landed on the matt with a thud.

"Again," was the only word said to comfort her.

So the action repeated itself.

Kate Bishop grabbed her by the head and shoulder again and guided her through a simple hip toss. Again, Noriko landed on her back with a thud. Their 'instructor', Jeanne Foucault, was trying to teach her one of the basic fighting moves to use in a ring or out of fit: how to take a fall.

"This is for your own protection," Jeanne's voice was flat, like automata made of flesh or Steven Halking's wheelchair given organic life, "We can't let you perform until you know how to properly fall."

"I know, I get it," Noriko scowled, "But can you lay off! If I'm not going to get it, then—"

Jeanne cut her off, "Actually, you've been performing it perfectly the last 25 times now."

Noriko blinked, "Really?"

"Yeah," Kate nodded, "Still need to do another 5 before we can clear you."

Noriko smiled for what felt like the first time in ages, "Alright, let's get back to it."

And the process repeated itself.

* * *

"Welcome back, fight-fans!" Chase called out.

"If you're just joining us," Gert began, pausing just a moment as the back stage crew brought the pictures up for the online audience, "You missed Hawkeye laying out Finesse in our opener."

The streaming online audience was treated to a clip from the end of the match: Hawkeye straddled the small of Finesse's back with her hands wrapped under Finesse's chin and pulled back on her head in a perfect camel clutch. Both were rather worn down and beaten, they rarely pulled punches, but now it was almost over. After a solid 28 minutes of violence under studio lights, it was about to end. They already showing visible bruises and cuts from their altercation. Even their costumes were suffered: torn slightly and stained with the sweat so heavy the two warriors almost looked as though they put their costumes on after exiting a pool. The costumes destined to either be replaced or patched up.

The end came when Hawkeye pulled back extremely far on Finesse's body, and bent her into a painful curve. Finesse screamed in mock pain in a perfect simulation of the a similar reaction to the move, before Hawkeye spiked Finesse's head into the mat so hard the ring shook and Finesse's body reverberated with the blow just before she went limp. Gulping for air like a fish out of water, Hawkeye raised Finesse's head by the hair to show to the audience that she indeed was out, but managed to make it more sympathetic than dominate. All it took was a smile and a full-body sigh of relief that it was over. Hawkeye pushed Finesse over, and met with no resistance. The young woman flopped onto her back with a boneless lack of grace that told all who saw that she was unconscious. She wasn't, but the audience didn't know better and Finesse thought it better they thought she was unconsciousness than what she actually was: tired and dehydrated. The pin was, to the audience, merely a formality, and consisted primarily of Hawkeye collapsing atop Finesse like a marionette with its strings cut.

"Nothin' like a good catfight to start the night," Chase leaned back in his chair as the screen showed Hawkeye as she finally stood up on her shaky legs. Her face beamed with a proud smile on her face as she raised a hand to acknowledge the accolades, before collapsing onto her back next to her opponent. The only real movement from either young woman at the end was their gasping breaths, with shared smiles of victory. Though Finesse lost the match, she knew from seeing the crowd's reaction that they bought her (extremely difficult and tiring) 'performance' beyond anyone else's.

"It's a regular thing, what with so many girls here," Gert said.

"Which is okay by me!"

"Too bad they both had to be scrapped off the mat," Gert switched the images on display to the removal of both worn out warriors being removed by the robotic 'crew' they used to fill in when others weren't available, and Elixir, who put one hand over each girl as they were wheeled out on stretchers. A bit of an exaggeration, but that was the name of the game.

"Of course," Gert rolled her eyes, "Following that, bit of fanservice; we had Delphyne Gorgon gain a similar knockout victory out of Power Man."

The screen this time showed Power man being 'strangled' by the serpents of the Gorgon's hair, her arms holding his to his side as she lifted him in a reverse bear hug. When his movements started to become predominately involuntary, she released her serpent's grip on his neck, hoisted him up, and slammed him face first into the canvas. Before he could even flop off the bat, she had him in the air again, and suplexed him back to the ground. With his shoulders down, she held him until the count reached three, but he had checked out for the night when his shoulders hit the ground.

"Slightly less appealing," Chase over-acted his wince as Power Man dropped to the mat like a marionette with his strings cut, beneath Delphyne's smirk.

"And next – is a string of bad puns," Gert folded her arms and sighed.

"What?" Chase held his hands up as if he did not fully know what was coming next, "I get a charge out of our next fighters!"

"Chase."

"They have some real shocking moves," Chase grinned.

"Chase," Gert stifled a giggle as best she could.

"And they move light lightning!"

"Okay, that one was just too obvious," Gert choked back a laugh, "Carlos."

"What can I say, it's a pun deal." Chase cringed a bit with a smile on his face as Gert lightly smacked the back of his head.

"Alright," Gert said, smiling, "Introducing first, is our fellow wayward child, the man from La Mancha, the prefect combination of man and machine: El Trueno!"

Victor Mancha fully embraced the wrestling Rockslide set up, some thought a little too much. He came out in full regalia – Dark blue cape, tights and boots but most importantly, a stylized mask, all with lightning-like symbols sewn into it. Nico may not be his girl at the moment, but she still agreed to help him put the costume together. Molly helped, at least in spirit.

Chase had managed to stifle his laughter this time, but a few covered up smirks still escaped before he could move on to the next announcement. The crowd may have loved it, but he still thought it was ridiculous. And that it showed off the new muscles he'd been building up under the new training regimen they'd all been going through at Rockslide's insistence didn't hurt either. Even he noticed the ways the girls looked at him in this suit. Or rather, looked at his chest and abs. He made sure to flex them a bit as he stood atop each corner to get the crowd worked up.

"And his opponent, making her debut, right from the Xavier school of higher learning," Chase said, "Co-Leader of the next generation of X-Men, Surge!"

* * *

Watching from a secure internet connection, Hope Summers, the Mutant Messiah nearly choked on her drink when that little announcement came out of the internet. "Co-Leader? Are you kidding me? I never saw her lead anything. All she did was snipe at me half the time."

"She lead the students before you were born," Laurie, better known as Transonic, peaked over Hope's shoulder, her blue, sleek form sliding easily over the red-head. She brought a finger up to her lips and bit on it a little, "I think."

"I doubt she did anything that special," Hope scowled and folded her arms.

"Except lead the students to defeat Nimrod," the deep, full voice of the Wakandan student, Nezhno drew all eyes to him. He rarely talked. Even at that moment, his only moved his jaw as a break from his meditation behind the girls in the common room, "And the Purifiers. And Belasco."

He let that hang in the air for a moment, but the momentum was shattered when Hope chimed in, "So? IF that's true, why is she so angry all of the time?"

"You should understand," Nezhno said quietly, "That we watched almost fifty of our classmates killed in front of our eyes. We all reacted differently. Nori chose to protect every one of us, each loss weighted heavily on her. She'll do whatever it takes to protect her friends."

Hope scoffed, and muttered quietly, "Not everyone is cut out for the life of a soldier."

Laurie looked down at Hope and narrowed her eyes and thought, 'Few people really are, Hope.'

* * *

Surge entered the ring like the lighting that wreathed her form, getting to her corning in a flash as Victor, or El Trueno, hung up his cape. He rolled his shoulders as she received something she had never really gotten before: accolades. The people here, and across the web, were looking at her and cheering, just from her entrance alone. It brought an honest smile to her face, something she had not expected to get and hadn't gotten since M-Day. She waved to the crowd and showed off her new outfit.

It was a variation of the one she wore when she lead the New X-men. The top, however, gained straps to hold it up; her pants were a bit more paint-on than the baggy ones with practical pockets were before. She missed those pockets, but they really were a hindrance in a match. Her gloves were now gone too. Amadeus had worked them into small bracelets to give her complete freedom of movement in her hands and wrist. He also turned them into smart phones with holographic interfaces using his own OS, and had it all run off her innate electrical power.

That boy certainly could live up to the whole '7th smartest person in the world' thing he talked about.

But her mind was focused on the match.

'I'm not gonna hold back, Victor,' She thought to her opponent, 'This has to be a statement.'

'A statement?' Victor arched an eyebrow at her, 'I don't like the sound of it.'

'Just giving you fair warning,' Her eyes narrowed, 'I HAVE to win.'

'I know,' He said, 'Doesn't mean I won't make you earn it.'

With that ominous note in Victor's mind, the bell sounded and the unlimited match began.

Surge channeled her electrical energy into her feet and sprinted at El Trueno at full speed, nailing him with a powerful clothes line and flipping him end over end before he could blink. Bouncing off the ropes, Surge flung herself at El Trueno again before he even hit the ground, hitting a perfect spear into the upside-down Latino's abs. The held pretty firm, but he still let out a grunt of pain as they made contact and he was knocked to the ground. It was a grunt of something else too. She felt an odd sensation on the clothesline connected and felt it more so with the spear and further contact.

She looked down at El Trueno as he held his gut in only somewhat mock pain. 'You felt that too, right?' she 'heard' Victor in her head, 'Tell me you felt that.'

'Yeah, I did,' She settled herself with a breath as she grabbed El Trueno by the hair and brought him back up, 'D-d-doesn't matter. Still gonna win.'

She whipped him into the ropes and laid El Trueno out with a drop kick. As he bounced, she quickly straddled his chest, the feeling crawling up her legs and through her waist, and attempted to pound his face in with her forearms. His arms were quickly up to defend himself from the barrage, but she held on firm for a good 20 seconds before a hand slipped up past her guard, grabbed her short blue hair and brought her forehead down to play a game of "Who's skull is harder" with El Trueno.

She lost.

Surge bounced back clutching her head and fell off El Trueno.

'You really weren't kidding about not wantin' to lose,' Victor told her as he wiped away some blood from his lip and nose.

'I-I'm not just gonna give in because of some—some' her train of thought was interrupted as Victor grabbed onto her head and worked her into a side headlock.

'Electrical feedback loop that's totally turnin' you on right now?' He held onto her head, ran to the turnbuckle, and kept going, climbing to the very top and leapt off all while maintaining his hold. The momentum all built up and drover Surge's face first to the mat. 'Yea, I feel it too.'

Surge grabbed her head and tried to roll away, 'It doesn't mean anything!'

El Trueno wrapped his arms around Surge's stomach and picked her up, 'Want it to?'

He hoisted her into the air and slammed her back into the canvas as her brain dealt with the situation she found herself in. 'Are you hitting on me in the middle of a match?!' She was winded by the fall and could only 'watch' as El Trueno climbed to the top turnbuckle. 'Seriously?'

'Well?' He thought to her as he lifted himself even higher into the air with his magnetic powers.

'Can I answer after the match?'

'Sure.'

El Trueno dove down, flipping a full 900 degrees around before falling on the prone Surge with an epic body slam. The blow was so great, he bounced right off her body as she herself bounced and rolled over onto her belly. He stared at the sky, she curled up, and both of them were winded and buzzed from the massive contact their bodies just made.

'Ow and wow,' Noriko could not help but think aloud.

'I guess that's a yes, right?'

'That's a very strong possibility.'

"What an epic splash!" Chase called out! "It looks like my man Vic took a lot out of himself to that."

"Well, Surge wanted El Trueno to come at her full force. Looks like she might not be able to handle it."

El Trueno, Victor, crawled over to Surge and rolled her onto a back. He draped himself over surge, chest to chest.

Noriko could not help but gasp when she got a whiff of his scent. Shirtless, with the lights and temperature up, his body glistened with a mild sweat and the smell of simply him was intoxicating. The buzz from the physical contact was another thing which got her a bit flushed.

And a two count before she kicked out from the pin.

'No-now way. I don't care how hot you are, you're not getting a pin fall that easily!'

'Alright, if you insist,' He mentally sighed as he picked her up again—only to receive a fist to the gut for his troubles.

She latched onto his neck with both hands and fell back, raising her knees and used his own weight to slam them into his chest. He bounced back and fell onto his back stunned as she rolled back to her feet.

It was her turn to head for the turnbuckle, run up it and, as El Trueno got to his feet, leapt into the air with a spinning drop kick that drilled him back into the canvas.

"Another big power move!" Chase said, "We sure this isn't a main event match?"

"Surge never brings anything but her a game, and El Trueno is happy to do the same." Gert nodded her head as she watched Surge bring Victor back to his feet and whip him into a corner. Before he landed, however, she dove at him at superhuman speed, spearing him to it. He cried out in pain and slumped against the turn buckle, she ended up partially slumped against him. After ramming her shoulder into his stomach three times she switched to a different tactic.

El Trueno found his body rocked by a series of rapid fire kicks and chops to the chest that let him slumped after only a 2 seconds—and 17 blows.

'I think we're about done,' Noriko took him by the shoulder and brought him to the center of the ring.

For the first time in the match, she channeled her energy into a direct electrical blast. She spun her arms in a circle.

'I agree,' Victor thought and put out one hand and the electrical power gathered around her held in place. In an instant, the contest changed from one of strength to one of willpower, with a sphere of lightning balancing between them. One false move from either would end it; their hands shook under the mental strain.

The end came suddenly and in a way neither expected. One false twitch, neither would admit to who did it, magnetized their own bodies into opposite polls. The rest worked itself out naturally—two powerful electromagnets slammed together in the center of the ring with enough force to flip each other end over end and clunk the two heroes pretty hard in the head. The collision demagnetized them with the release of the electricity in a massive burst of light and heat. Noriko came to on top of Victor and awoke to the sound of the bell ringing out for a pin fall conclusion.

She heard Victor utter a simple "Ow" underneath the roar of the crowd. She simply lay on him, not wanting to move – tired, and enjoying the hum their bodies still managed to produce with this simple contact. She won. She chalked it up as a victory for her team, however accidental it was.

Victor was pretty sore, but did want to move. The smell of the neon-blue haired girl rising and falling with his labored breath called out to him. He wanted hold her, but couldn't do that here. Not in front of the crowd. For now, he had to 'play dead'. And enjoy the rest that would follow.

'So,' He thought to her, 'Can I have an answer?'

'I'm just gonna lie here for a while. Will that do?'

'Sure.'

* * *

"Wow," Laurie had moved to sitting on the couch, joining Hope's frustrated watching, "That was a bit flirty wasn't it?"

"I don't get it," Hope grabbed her head and rolled her head back, "What is this? Who the hell flirts while they fight?"

"Weird people, I guess," Laurie looked pointedly at Hope, "Seems like it'd be a perfect fit for you."

Hope ignored her but was not amused, "And since when could she run super-fast?"

"She never did like doing it that much after the Purifier attack," Nezhno said, "Something about her reactions peed not being fast enough."

Laure looked on as Surge and El Trueno were pealed of the mat, "Looks like she got better."

Hope scoffed, "I could do better with that power set."

Laurie rolled her eyes, "We know."

"Up next, we have Toro and Mettle in a Heavy weight match set up for our re-creation Time's Square!" Chase announced through the broadcast, "You will believe that Cars can fly"

Gert snidely added, "If only for a few seconds before they slam into something."

"So stay tuned!"

* * *

A few nights later, Victor did manage to pin Noriko. But this was to her extreme pleasure. Though most of the night she spent lying on top of him, it was in his arms regardless, enjoying the comfort, the warmth and mutual feedback loop of their oddly matched electrical signals.

* * *

One by one, the teleconference team assembled. Each screen holding a different member of the impromptu meeting. Hank Pym was the first one to connect, heading up the meeting. Steve Rogers was second, always punctual in arriving. Ben Grimm arrived next with a guff nod. Finally, Logan connected.

"Glad you could all make it," Hank said.

"It's honestly a good thing to talk over," Steve said, "Any action we take has to be across the board."

"So we just gonna align our punishments or what?" Wolverine growled, "And why aren't we stompin' down there now to put an end to 'bout of stupid yet?"

"Let's not rush in, now, fur-ball," Ben said, "This is a bit stickier than you might think."

Logan growled.

"Well," Hanks said, "I've laid out all the facts and looked through all the holds I could get my hands on and while I do agree that what they're doing is not fully in their best interests as students, their meeting and interacting together has had many benefits for at least my students and I believe for the others as well."

"Seems odd," Steve rubbed his chin, "Many super heroes pull down full time jobs along with super heroics, but this amounts to a triple shift. That can't be healthy for them."

"Kids have too much energy anyway," Ben grumbled.

"I agree with you, Steve, but they seem to have compensated for it—they've compensated for a lot, actually, and I think I know the reason why," Hank sent a picture to the others, "Amadeus Cho."

"Hrm, the leader of the Olympus group," Steve nodded.

"And Herc's most recent companion," Logan scowled.

"Oh!" Ben snapped his fingers, "His eromenos!"

The others looked at Ben, who eventually added, "It's what Alex called him . . ."

"It's largely thanks to him that their operation is running," Hanks said, "And why any evidence of injuries from this 'sport' is minimal to non-existent."

Hanks sent another picture their way, featuring one of the show's announcers, "And possibly why some girls we thought were dead are now alive again."

"Think the kids did something?" Steve said.

"Cho has Hades on his damned speed-dial," Logan snorted, "Not surprised there aren't more resurrections we just don't know about."

"Sure he'd use that power so frivolously?"

"It's just like the Hand," Logan folded his arms, "Once they get comfortable with the idea of bringing back the ones they want to keep around, it becomes routine."

Hank nodded, "They also worked together to virtually cure the conditions of two of my full time students, Jennifer Takeda and Ken Mack. So there are definitely benefits to this."

"I thought you were working on curing them," Steve said.

Hank looked down, "I'm not sure if I should be proud that the kids fixed this on their own, or ashamed."

"I'd be proud of their accomplishment," Steve said, getting a smile out of Hank.

Logan snorted, "Honestly? I think it's a bad omen."

Ben folded, "I'm with the fur ball. I'm all for fiixn' problems, but between that and the resurrections, they're getting' into some really controllin' territory. I'm seein' a Doc Doom Jr. getting' an army of super-kids together and trainin' them up to be a personal, loyal army."

"It can't be that bad, Ben," Hank started, but Steve didn't let him finish.

"But it is a risk. Not the most likely risk, and a very delicate situation, but something that we should be ready for should it happens."

"Getting' Paranoid there, ain't ya, Cap," Ben said.

Steve sighed, "Comes with the job, unfortunately."

"So how are we gonna handle this?" Hank asked, "I'm pretty sure barging in on their secret club house to shut them down will only make things worse."

"Agreed," Steve said.

"Probably," Ben Said.

Wolverine voiced his disappointment with a snort.

"We need to know more. All we have is their broadcasts to go by and minor hints from things the students bring back," Logan's face squeezed up slightly, "Mostly smells, unfortunately."

"I also agree," Steve said, "We need someone to get information on this club house of theirs and see if it's half as bad as we suspect."

"Given the almost Girls Gone Wild thing from last time," Ben said, "It may start to enter a downward spiral and go ECW or worse with it." The others looked at Ben. Logan sighed, while Hank and Steve were at a loss, "What? I'm an ex-wrestler. I know this stuff."

"We could always ask the kids what's going on," Hank said,

Logan shook his head, "And tip our hand? Pass."

"We'd need someone or something on the inside," Steve said, "What are our options."

"I can think of a few things," Hank added, "Probes, bugs, spies – I'd still rather be honest about the whole thing."

"Dependin' on what they turn out," Ben interrupted as Logan and Steve were about to counter Hank's admission, "I got a plan to get people in and see what's goin' on, but it'd need some volunteers."

Captain America sighed, "I just hope they haven't done anything too irresponsible yet. They are our future, after all."

The others could not help but agree.

* * *

"HEY! I GOT BEER!" Chase's announcement as he barged into the 'Island Vacation' room was met with cheers and hoots.

Anya Corazon arched an eyebrow, "Isn't it illegal for a lot of us to drink?"

"We're not in the states, Spider-Girl," Chase hooked his thumbs into his belt, "Amadeus said it was some kind of inter-dimensional thingamajig, so we're running on international waters laws here!"

"That's just asking for trouble," Nico folded her arms and tapped her fingers, "You should have asked about doing this first."

"I asked," Chase put a hand on his chest and puffed out, but after a moment, "Juston and his sentinel to help me carry it all."

The massive machine walked slowly towards the group with a pile of boxes in its hand with various labels burned on them. With all eyes on him, Juston looked around nervously before he said "He said he had permission!"

"Okay," Jenny raised her hands up and walked towards Chase. She poked his chest with one finger, "Where did you get all this?"

"Bought it."

"You bought it?"

"Yes."

"With that? A fake ID?"

"No. Bought 'em in Italy," He let the fact hang in the air for a moment, "Did you guys know legal drinking age over there is sixteen?"

In the back of the kids by the beach, Chase could hear Gert slap her forehead, damning herself for telling him that little factoid.

"Alright," Nico turned to the crowd and hardened her face, "If that's the case, No one under 16 is gonna get any. Got it?"

"Yes, _Mom_," Chase rolled his eyes.

That sent a shiver up Nico's spine, but she hid it well. It reminded her of the time before Amadeus set up the Infinite Hostel. Back when she, Chase, and the other children of the Pride were runaways, barely scraping by. When the two of them were the unofficial parents of the odd family they made for themselves. Nico remembered being so desperate and on edge that she turned to Chase for support the way she hated herself for: using love and sex as an escape. Now that Gert was back, she backed off immediately once again. Romance and love just had a tendency to be fleeting at best. Though, part of her really did miss the few long nights she spent in Chase's arms.

But she didn't have that anymore. And he had to go and bring up that time in a complaint.

"Do you want me to turn you into a frog again?"

"Pfft, you know you can't cast the same spell once."

"With the staff. I've been practicing without it, remember?"

"Alright, fine. Who here is under 16 here?"

The other kids shouted various "No" and "Not me".

Chase smirks and folded his arms in front of his chest, "Looks like it won't be a problem."

Nico growled, "Alright: Cassie, Pixie, and Indra— I know you're all like 15. Molly, Klara, don't even think about trying to sneak some in and anyone who give you any is gonna get frogged. You got it?"

* * *

"And that's where we sit."

"Tough spot. Rebellious teenagers are sort of a new thing for me."

"But wrestlin' isn't."

"Yeah, that it does. Is that why you went to me for this?"

"Pretty much. You, me and Sharron are pretty much the only heroes still workin' who knew anything about the UCWF back in the day. "

"And Sharon?"

"Haven't asked her yet."

". . . Really?"

". . ."

"Thought so."

"No offense, but you were a bad guy for a while and me and Sharon used to date."

"So an Ex is better than an Ex-Con?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be mean. Look, these kids need your help."

"I assume you don't mean their skills and ring work. Honestly, it's pretty impressive."

"Yeah."

"Would have wiped the floor with me back in the day."

"You did have something of a glass jaw back then."

"Ha. Ha."

"But I think you know what I'm worried about most."

"The Power Broker."

"Supposedly there's a new one. One who's a bit more ruthless than the one we knew. One of the Initiative recruits told me about him."

"Wonderful. So we got to get to them before he does?"

"That's part of the plan."

"Alright, Ben. Count me in."

"Glad to have you on board, Songbird."

"Please, call me Melissa. We're not on the job yet."


	7. The Morning After

**The Mornings After**

Billy and Teddy sat at the end of the hall near the kitchen and just waited. They had breakfast in front of them, but instead of having the TV on, they had a different way to entertain themselves.

"You sure this is gonna happen and not take a forever?" Teddy asked his boyfriend, putting a comforting hand on Billy's shoulder.

"Nah, they all tucked in about the same time," Billy smiled, "Thanks to a timely use of Isaac Hayes music."

"You're welcome, by the way."

"With all the booze, the tension that's been mounting 'round here. I predict that the first few will be stumbling out of their room stupors any minute now."

Under Teddy's gaze, Billy added, "I'm magic, I know these things."

"It's mean," Teddy said in a sing-song voice.

"And that's why we—"

"I"

"You are making everyone a big breakfast to greet them."

"Why am I doing this again?"

"Because I love you?"

"Works for me," Teddy walked by, whisking pancake batter as he did, and gave Billy a quick kiss.

* * *

Gert and Chase exited their room and Billy sighed at first, until he saw Gert's roughed hair.

He put a check mark on the paper he had, "and that's our first!"

"First what?" Chase said. His voice was half groggy with sleep.

"First couple consummated from the kegger," Billy explained.

"Dude," Chase said, "We consummate, like, nightly ever since Gert got back."

Teddy turned to Gert, "What? Really?"

Billy tilted his head slightly, "You guys were subtle about it."

"It's not that hard to be subtle when you got the Ken and Jenny going on nearby," Gert said, "I can_not_ scream that loud."

"I tried, man," Chase shook his head with a dopey grin, "She really can't."

Gert smiled, but punched him in the arm anyway.

"Ooo, I want details," Billy smiled as Teddy rolled his eyes and went back to prepping breakfast.

"What can I say," Gert shrugged, "Being dead really ups the urge to celebrate being alive."

* * *

"And we have our first new couple!" Billy exclaimed as Noriko and Victor walked out of his room. He just had on pants and she wore his shirt, their hair messed up and slightly matted. The small audience waiting for them and mild applause they got caught both teenagers completely off guard. They were red in the face as Teddy mercifully guided them to the main kitchen table.

"C'mon, we have breakfast already," He said "And some hangover remedies the gods devised, so we know they work."

"But we don't have hangovers," Noriko said as the pair walked over to the nearest available seats, "I only had one and he didn't drink at all." She elbowed Victor.

"I don't like the harsh taste of alcohol, what can I do?!" He raised his arms defensively.

"God, you really were programed to be the most PC super hero ever," Gert said, pointing her waffle covered fork at the pair as they approached.

"Wait, you weren't a drunken hookup?" Billy's smile lessened slightly, but took on a cheesier demeanor and he snapped his fingers, "Damnit!"

"We still have breakfast for ya, though," Teddy said, "Welcome to the couples table."

The couple joined the onlookers as well as bed-head laden Julie and Karolina for a rather large breakfast.

* * *

Cassie Lang woke up with a throbbing headache and Amadeus' Cho's head nestled in her chest. She thought she'd be okay just trying a little, but one cup turned into 3 and despite her size changing powers Cassie Lang learned something incredible useful: she was a lightweight.

She was extremely glad neither of them was naked, though Amadeus did lack as shirt. She contemplated shrinking out of Amadeus' grip, but sneaking around as a tiny naked ant girl was not something she wanted to do.

"Ah, you're awake," a whispered voice caught Cassie a little off guard. She became truly worried when she saw its owner: Delphyne. She may have been in human form, but even with red hair and freckles, her strength of will was so great she could still pull of a medusa's stare, "I see he's enjoying himself."

"Delphyne," Cassie said, "Look, I—"

"Save it," Delphyne curtly walked over to the bed and sat down next to the blonde and her voice softened, "You don't need to say anything."

"I don't?"

Delphyne's stern glare inched closer and closer to Cassie's face. Trapped against the pillow she could only pull back half an inch, "No, you don't."

She really didn't expect the red head to kiss her, "Hopefully you'll remember what we did last night a little better if you're given a chance to breathe, sister."

That really threw Cassie for a loop, more than waking up with Amadeus. The kiss was soft, kind and reminded her of her of an earlier kiss from a refined young man who had villainous tendencies. Nathaniel Richards. Iron Lad. Kang. But Delphyne's was not quite as soft, for the simple contact between them, she showed far more aggression. She relaxed a little in her confusion.

"So, did we-?"

"Not all the way, but we certainly played around quite a bit," Delphyne stroked Cassie's hair and then did the same to Amadeus, "You were insistent that we didn't go all the way, though you made all sorts of dirty suggestions."

Cassie started to remember and her face went red, "Ohmigod! I can't believe it! I'm a lightweight and a slut when I'm drunk."

"Hey," Delphyne grabbed Cassie's face, "Do not be ashamed of your interest in sex. It is the most repugnant thing about man's world there is."

The sternness of Delphyne's voice caught her off guard, and got Amadeus to stir a little bit from the force of it. But he nestled himself in Cassie's chest and returned to his slumber almost immediately.

"You're much better than that," Delphyne lowered her voice, "I can't have my second doubt herself like that."

"Your second?"

"Of course," Delphyne wrapped an arm around Cassie and slid next to her, "If you are up for the idea, that is," When Cassie didn't answer after a moment; Delphyne continued "It's an amazon thing."

"I thought that meant you killed any man you slept with?"

"Normally, yes, but I'm something of an exile, so bending the rules isn't that much of a problem for me," She fiddled with Amadeus' hair as he slumbered, "I really do love this arrogant bastard. " She paused and then added, "And he also appears to be enamored with your chest."

Cassie looked down at Amadeus, "I noticed."

"I'll try and explain in man's world terms," Delphyne said, "I take Amadeus as my" she paused to digest the word, "Husband. And we take you as our second, a living embodiment of both out love and commitment to love."

"So, I'm the live in girlfriend? Of both of you?"

"If you wish to use such crude terms, then yes. But it's more than something so easily replaceable. Your function would be both symbolic and practical."

"How would it be practical? It's some weird polyamo—"

Delphyne's expression hardened, "It's to prevent me from passing on the gorgon curse to anyone else."

And it clicked in Cassie's mind. "Oh. Wow, I didn't think about—I'm sorry."

Though her form was human, she was still at her core a gorgon. And she hated the curse and Athena for doing it. Even as head of the Olympus group, there were some things even Amadeus could not undo. The image inducer he copied from the Xavier school helped all her people blend in with the modern world, but it was only an adhesive medical strip for a deeper wound.

"It's alright. I didn't want to be so blunt, but it's early in the morning. It's unavoidable."

"Yeah," Cassie sighed, putting an arm around Delphyne to comfort her. She leaned in.

"If we decide to have children," Delphyne looked at Amadeus, "Which honestly won't be for a while if we plan things right, I want you to bear them. They will be ours, not just mine and Amadeus, but the child of all three of us. We will raise them together."

"This . . . is a little big for me. I'm 16, not exactly—"

"Legal age as an Amazon, but I understand," Delphyne smiled, "Cassie: you're strong, smart, driven and noble. You'd have made a fine amazon. As such, I will give you a decade to think it over."

"A decade?!"

"Until then," Delphyne kissed her on the check, "We can just have some fun."

Amadeus popped up immediately, "Sounds good to me."

"How long have you been awake?" Cassie's face twisted at first in shock, then in annoyance and anger.

"Woke 'bout the same time you did," He told Cassie, "Heard the whole thing."

Delphyne smacked him with a pillow. As did Cassie. Repeatedly.

"Alright! Alright!" Amadeus sat up and curled into a defensive ball, "I give! I give!"

After the girls relented, he added, "Glad to see you're feeling better today."

Cassie's memory was still hazy with the rising sun, but she remembered more and more. Color drained from her face and her whole body shuddered. The other two were around her in moments, doing their best to comfort the girl.

"I was in hell," Cassie's voice was a barely audible whisper.

"We know," Delphyne held her close, "we know." Cassie curled into a ball as the two surrounded her.

"Mephisto was there," She rocked back and forth in their embrace, "And he was laughing."

"We got you out," Amadeus kissed her on the check, "And we made sure you'll never go back."

They held each other tightly for a good half an hour, reassuring Cassie and telling her she was loved. If they weren't there, she thought she'd crawl into a corner, whimpering and crying just remembering that time. Her shivering eventually calmed in their warmth.

"Sorry I reminded you," Amadeus whispered.

"It's okay," She answered, "I need to face it. I need to overcome it. Every reminder is a new chance to beat it."

"And we're here to support you," Delphyne nuzzled into Cassie's hair, "You're strong to have survived there as long as you did."

They remained like this for what seemed a small eternity before Cassie asked the big question: "how long until you can get there others?"

"We have to track them down first," Amadeus answered, "But I've got programs running through all the hells in the underworld to find them. We've got enough to pay for the release of less than five." He paused a moment before adding, "But they could always just choose to pass on to their proper resting place than come back."

"We're glad you came back," Delphyne said, "It takes a lot to say no to paradise."

"What can I say," Cassie said, "I have people here who care about me. Heaven without my friends is a rather hollow heaven."

Amadeus kissed her right then and there, "And there's another reason I love ya."

* * *

Laura had sex before this. No, that was the wrong word to describe it. Rutting would work better. She had been rut on. A physical act she took no pleasure in, done only to acquire survival necessities with minimal hassle. Something she lay back and let happen to her. It let others use her as something other than a weapon, yet it made her feel . . . wrong. Worse.

Last night was something different. She'd heard the phrase in song before, but dismissed it as she did most music. Now, she understood what it meant. She made love last night. She wasn't used, she was worshiped. His regenerated hands were used to explore every inch of her body, as if Julian was memorizing her curves and muscles inch by inch. It interfered with her thought processes extremely, but she enjoyed the sensations it gave her. It brought up warm feelings from deep inside her that overcame the horrors she'd seen and done, even if only for a moment. And that's not even factoring in the orgasm she had. Her first. She never really felt the way Julian made her feel when they were alone in the dark.

Except when hanging around someone else, who wasn't the person she currently shared her bed with.

Julian Keller's steady breathing was hypnotic to her, though it made no logical sense why it should. No. It did, but it was purely biological functionality. His steady breathing after the strenuous evening confirmed his fitness: strong in his physical body and powers, driven, intelligent, wealthy, and aggressive yet having a rather solid moral foundation that she found re-assuring. He would be an ideal mate if she chose to reproduce and raise a family.

That was an option for her now. She felt it. She could be normal. Well, as normal as she could hope for.

But there was that nagging feeling inside her that it wasn't quite right. Part of her felt that she did not deserve such a future, with Julian or with anyone. Another part of her felt greater emotional security, and a desire for pleasure, towards someone else—someone with whom she could not breed biologically to boot, making the feelings hard to explain. She wasn't sure she was in love with Julian, but he was useful to her. Perhaps she loved the other. She wondered if Julian would mind sharing his bed with another woman. She doubted he would, as other males in their new group had eagerly accepted multiple couplings. Still, it made her nervous.

That, she did not like. She drew herself to Julian's warmth and listened to his steady breath to regain that comfort, losing herself in the smell and sound of him as his arms embraced her unconsciously and she drew him in as tightly as she could and drowned in the endorphins.

* * *

Mettle woke up as he usually did these days: instantly. There was no morning grogginess; he just 'woke' like he was turned on. Even with his body back to flesh, he still woke up like he did in his metallic form. The sight that greeted him was at first surprising, and then filled him with a new found confidence and happiness, then worry, all in roughly that order.

There was more than one other person in his bed with him. Both of the Asian girls were curled up against him, one on each side and he had one arm wrapped around each of them. Between them, one held the others hand. Waking up with two beautiful women was every man's dream, really. That he knew one loved him deeply was an added bonus.

It was the other girl that got him to worry. Jenny was something he could handle, but Nico was something a bit more. It wasn't that she had harshness to her vibe like Jen did, but she denied herself the good ones. They tried to loosen her up, but it was like happiness was a prelude to doom in her mind.

Stroking her, Ken thought that perhaps, they loosened her up too much. She'd probably start hating herself when she woke up. And Jenny, well, was a bit overprotective of their relationship. If her sober mind did not agree with the thing, there would be harshness.

That's when the hand grip between the girls tightened, and all the tension in his mind evaporated. He forgot that beneath the tough exteriors both girls put on, either through frustrations or the need to help others, was a soft core that simply wanted a rock to hold onto.

He brought his hands up to lightly play with the girl's hair as a way to alleviate the last worry to hold on in light of their togetherness: if Nico would let herself be happy at all.

* * *

"Yeah," Santo sighed as he leaned back in his seat at the table, the Stepford Cuckoos around him, who met him with annoyed stares, "I'm a stud."

"I don't think psionic affairs count that much," Teddy scratched his head.

"Tell that to Jean Grey," The Cuckoos answered.

"I'm surprised no one has, what with her teenaged-self running around," Nico grumbled groggily between Jenny and Ken.

"I think Doctor McCoy told her," Julian said between mouthfuls of his breakfast, "which is possibly dumber than messing with space time to bring the original X-Men back to the future in the first place."

"Yeah, whatever. I still got three," Rockslide smiled.

"In your head," Chase added.

"I win the kegger!" He raised his fists in the air to no accolades at all.

"And here I just wanted some juicy gossip," Billy whispered to Teddy as his boyfriend finally got a chance to sit down, "I suddenly feel less evil for it."

"You're comparing yourself to Rockslide," Teddy whispered back, "Of course you look better."

At that moment, Humberto came out of his room with Jeanne. Billy took a moment to notice it, but still pointed it out, his face lighting up. Teddy groaned, but smiled for his boyfriend. Jeanne held Humberto's hand and brought him out of their room, his steps staggered.

The door immediately closed. Whispered voices of more than one person drifted down the hall to the kitchen, but none of them could make it out aside from Laura, who just didn't care.

The door eventually opened again and Humberto exited with Jeanne and Anya close behind them.

Ken was about to say "Ah, another trio" when Bucky followed behind Anya. And Ava followed Anya. And Lyra took up the rear. They all had bed-hair tussled with the exertion of the prior night. The kids at the table stared at the sextet in amazement. Humberto's staggered gate suddenly made total sense.

"How does that even _work_?!" Jen managed to say as the group took up more seats at the table.

"I've done some reading on the subject," Jeanne said as Teddy brought them food one by one, "If you're looking for suggestions, I can recommend—"

Chase could barely keep his jaw closed and his brain was so addled by the sight he missed a Jeanne's lead in and blurted out: "Dude, how?!"

"If he says animal magnetism, I swear to God. . ." Gert groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Nico tilted her head, "I don't think he's going to be saying much of anything for a while."

"Damnit!" Santo's face turned into a scowl, but quickly faded, "I think we got a new winner of the kegger. Congrats, bro." He clapped slowly, the sound of rocks smacking together echoed slightly in the dinning room.

"Does that mean I can sleep for the rest of the day?" Humberto's voice warbled and warped slightly, but was dry and airy.

"Rehydrate, then we'll go back to bed," Jeanne assured flatly.

The entire room stopped dead and looked at her. The color drained a bit from Humberto's face.

"Pardon my poor phrasing," Jeanne said, "He needs more rest and some least food. He overworked himself."

"I'll bet!" Santo said as he sat back in a chair, which promptly collapsed under his weight.


	8. Power Bases

**Power Bases**

The gym inside the infinite Hostel echoed with the sounds of violence, but retained an atmosphere of play regardless. It unnerved Laura a bit as she walked through. It was a lot to take in, and parts of it reminded her of the training center at the Facility. Her eyes darted from scene to scene to quickly take in the bits she saw. In a deep pit, Lyra and Kevin were practicing throwing each other into walls. Molly did reps with a dumbbell, Mettle hovered over her as her spotter. Anya held Victor Borkowski in a full nelson on the mats, before flipping him over in a suplex. Billy practiced punching with Teddy coaching him through off to the side. Cassie Lang held Hisako in a headlock, with the Japanese girl desperately trying to pull free from the center of one off the four training rings. Chase Stein was in a different one and delivered a powerful clothesline to Juston, who flipped over himself from the blow. He eventually rolled up and sighed, Chase barked at him for not falling quite right and to do it again.

But it was a nearby "Oof" from the mats which caught her attention. Her eyes trained onto the purple haired co-announcer Gert. Kate Bishop and Jeanne Foucault were around her. Kate holding down Gert's feet and Jeanne observing as the girl who didn't have the standard super heroine figure did crunches.

"Tell me again how many you do to get that stomach?" Gert's eyes were closed in exhaustion and her words labored.

"400," Kate answered.

"300," Finesse said, "I see no reason to flaunt when imagination of the observer can easily fill the gaps."

This earned her a quick glare from Kate of course, "Aren't I two to one over you?"

"Only because I'm the better actress," Finesse mirror's Kate's competitive smirk exactly.

"Ladies, please. Catfight when we have paying customers," Gert sighed and shook her head, her words punctuated with her heavy breathing. "How many did I just do?"

"20," Kate said, "You have 10 more."

"Hate you," Gert managed the phrase out in a single breath, "Hate you both."

"We're only half way through the work out," Kate smiled, "You're doing great."

"Your progress has been impressive," Jeanne said in her monotone.

"I think I'd rather be dead again," Gert shook her head, "How many days do I have left?"

"302," Jeanne answered.

"And then I can leave this place for the outside real world?"

"Do you really want to?" Kate said

"A bit. But that's neither here nor there. I don't wanna just job to you bitches, so get back to whipping me into shape." Gert gritted her teeth and started her sit ups again.

"Charming, as always," Kate shook her head.

"Hey, what I lack in physical fitness and conventional beauty, I make up for in dry wit and sarcasm." Gert sneered, "Don't knock it"

Laura watched in silence as the workout continued, until Jeanne looked over to Laura, "You wish to practice?"

Laura nodded, "But I still do not understand the nature of all this. It is not a form of fighting I am used to."

"It is an odd style, emphasizing misdirection, exaggeration and durability. However, it does have its uses."

Laura nodded, "It has improved the overall combat efficiency of all participants."

"If you like, I could help you practice. I believe your healing factor may be a point Santo and Amadeus would like to exploit for the program."

"They have indicated as much already," Laura said and the two began to walk towards an empty ring.

Gert fell back again as the two girls left her with Kate, "Are you sure those two aren't robots? I mean, you had one on your team, right?"

Kate looked over as the girls entered the ring, "I think Jonas was a lot more emotive than either of them." Kate stood up and offered a hand which Gert ignored for a moment, just to catch her breath, "C'mon, we still have muscle building exercises to go through."

"Oh. Joy."

* * *

"Mr. Cho?" The voice of Hebe, lovely cup bearer of the gods, Hercules' long suffering wife and Olympus Group secretary, crackled a bit over the intercom, "Your eleven o'clock is here."

He let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. Jeremy Briggs was not a person to underestimate, even if he did not rank in the top 10 smartest people in the world. He was maybe 15th. Nothing to sneeze at, but still beneath Cho's intellect. He assured himself that he wouldn't let that work to his enemy's advantage, especially not after he underestimated Vali Halfling.

Jeremy Briggs had made his own fortune, exploiting his molecular re-arrangement power to fiscal gain. How, he ran a corporation which ran an alternate program for super powered beings to 'help' the world. In subtle, simple ways rather than acting as a glorified soldier or cop. On paper, it looked splendid, but according to Jeanne's research, he was much more self-serving and more importantly, up to something, than appearances belied. He couldn't confirm it, Jeremy had covered his tracks too well, but Amadeus shared his suspicions.

Cho could not help but think of his mentor. Even if it was a 'better' way to use powers, there had to be someone there for when the world was going to end. Herc would not approve. And that was all Amadeus needed to know.

"Mr. Briggs," Cho got up as the young man entered the room, "Do come in and take a seat."

Jeremy walked up to Cho and shook his hand before taking a seat, "Pleasure to meet you."

"So, any particular reason you wanted to conduct this as a face to face meeting?" Amadeus leaned back as he sat down.

"I find it adds a weight to any discussion when it's done in this manner, don't' you?"

"Yeah, it does," Amadeus rocked in his chair, "Our paths are not exactly similar."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Oh?"

"Well, aside from the fact that we're both Fortune five-hundred members under the age of 20, your most recent business venture-Can I call it that?"

"Sure, why not."

"Well, your latest business venture mirrors in the end results that I hope to achieve to a degree. Using super powers for entertainment purposes is not quite as effective as solving real world problems, but it does help prevent the super power abuse that's run rampant in the last few years."

"I figure it's better to get everyone to make friends than make enemies, makin' teams is nice, but short sighted."

"What isn't about so-called super heroes?"

Amadeus scowled, "Why are you here, Jeremy?"

"Two reasons, to extend a hand in friendship and cooperation—"

"I think I've made my position clear on that last time. What else?"

"Give you information pertinent to your latest endeavor in exchange for information you're regarding a specific aspect of your sideshow attraction."

Amadeus weighed his options, "What do you want to know?"

"It's Simple, really. How and why are you raising the dead?"

"The Olympus group owns Hades' realm," Amadeus leaned back in his chair, "It shouldn't' be too hard to work out the specifics from that."

"Indeed, though the thought of what price you're paying for it is disturbing."

"Everything has a price in hell," Amadeus's expression was cold, "Even heroes."

"So what is that price?"

"Depends on the hero in question. Haven't found one that costs a thousand."

"Dollars?"

"Souls."

Jeremy did his best not to hid his reaction to that, but Cho couldn't help but smirk at the internal struggle he saw in his rival.

"We use AIM agents, Hydra agents, Red Skull following Neo-Nazis, Old One cultists and other 'ner-do-wells of that level. They aren't worth that much and are going to hell anyway, so we just sped up the process."

That caught Jeremy off guard, "So you really are playing god?"

"I run the Olympus group. There's no playing about it. This is a business of the gods."

Jeremy took a moment to digest that declaration. The arrogance. The certainty. He was glad Amadeus rejected the offer to work together. There would be no alliance between them. Not with someone like that. He could barely stomach the thought.

Amadeus, for his part, had his mind occupied with the names of the next ones in line: Wolf Cub and Wing. More dead X-Men. Even with a team well known for defying death, not everyone made it out.

"And your reason for doing this?"

"I don't like the look of the future with that many dead heroes."

Jeremy nodded slowly. Given Cho's beliefs regarding them, Jeremy considered it a simple and honest answer.

"So you had something you wanted to say in exchange for that bit of "Something so obvious you really should have figured it out on your own" information?" The arrogance of Amadeus truly irked Jeremy. He considered not telling Amadeus now, but that would be too rude. Even if it was only for now, only on the surface, it was bests to parlay with Cho.

"The Power Broker is going to make his move against you in one month's," He said, "So are the Avengers."

"Didn't know the exact time, but it was somewhat expected," Amadeus leaned back, "More than enough time to plan for anything he has in store."

"I happen to have an inside line on that too."

Amadeus raised an eyebrow as Jeremy continued, "Ever hear of the "Invasion" storyline?"


End file.
